4D.3: Integrity of Research and Practice

For faculty, ethical responsibility in the classroom is defined in Board Policy 402.01 (), which identifies academic freedom as integral to inquiry and exploration, as well as producing habits of responsible inquiry in students. The policy also tempers the potential pitfalls of academic freedom by elaborating:

The protection of the prerogative of academic freedom requires a conscientious, responsible staff. Professional staff members should uphold the dignity of the College in all their activities; set an example of integrity, tolerance and decency for their students; and maintain high standards of scholarship and personal conduct.

Sauk provides oversight and support services to ensure the integrity of research and practice conducted by faculty in a variety of contexts:

Assessment: Much of the research conducted on campus is related to assessment of student learning. Board Policy 602.02 () identifies the parameters of this system: “The College shall maintain an academic assessment program, that provides evidence of student learning that is faculty driven, supported by the administration and allows for college-wide, data-driven decision making.” In order to provide transparency to students about the collection process, the following statement is printed on each course syllabus:

Sauk Valley Community College is an institution dedicated to continuous instructional improvement. As part of our assessment efforts, it is necessary for us to collect and analyze course-level data. Data drawn from students’ work for the purposes of institutional assessment will be collected and posted in aggregate, and will not identify individual students. Your continued support in our on-going effort to provide quality instructional services at Sauk is appreciated.

A sampling of syllabi conducted for spring 2010 showed that ten of ten syllabi were in compliance in having incorporated the assessment statement.

As a direct result of general education competency assessment discussions, the faculty has also engaged in several projects which have created resources for faculty to use in the classroom. For example, a cross-discipline discussion of the changing face of electronic research resulted in the English faculty creating a concise guide for faculty who wish to employ research-based writing in the classroom, describing how the standards of citation have recently changed to include emerging electronic content.

Human subject research: During the self-study it was identified that Sauk did not have a policy or procedures pertaining to research using human subjects. The Dean of Institutional Research and Planning, along with a committee of faculty and administrators, drafted and proposed a policy which the Board of Trustees approved at its June 2010 meeting as Policy 519.01 (). The group completed its work and developed a set of procedures for submitting research proposals and for reviewing and monitoring of all human subject research, conducted by Sauk students, staff, and outside researchers. The procedures are available on the Sauk website.

Intellectual property: Another area of responsibility in research is the use of college resources in research which results in intellectual property. Board Policy 428.01 ()clearly outlines intellectual property rights. The policy defines intellectual property and gives examples of types of property that may be created under the headings of inventions, written/graphic materials, and recordings. In broad application, determination of rights is expressed as a proportion of Sauk's support, including division of duties, use of college resources, and framework in which the property originated.